The blade broke off the turbine sometime Wednesday night, but the cause still is under investigation, McIntyre said. The investigation could take several weeks or months to resolve.

“(We will) need to go through and assess the rest of the blades and make sure there’s not any exposure to the rest of the site, or any of the property around the site,” McIntyre said.

The average wind speed for Wednesday, May 31, 2017, was 12.27, lowering to 8.73 mph on Thursday, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet weather recording station at Breckinridge. The Mesonet site reported maximum gusts at 33.11 and 33.24 Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The broken blade sits about 100 yards behind the wind turbine, crushing all of the corn that surrounds it. The cornfield belongs to Ken Carpenter, who declined to comment.

Cleaning up the blade and wind turbine could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to two months, and will involve bringing a large crane near the field to take the blade off, McIntyre said.

The turbine is one of around 171 on the site, which has rarely seen any sort of mechanical issue, let alone a blade being destroyed, McIntyre said. Damages to the blade and field still are being assessed.

He said company workers are checking the rest of the site and monitoring the wind turbines 24 hours a day to ensure a similar incident doesn’t happen again.

Comments

Wind howls around the Cape. All metal gets fatigued, rusts in the salt laden air so how can these tubines be deemed safe. Slowing the blades down or stopping them in gale force winds must exert pressure on the components leading to wear and tear. Lack of regular maintenance or close observation of the turbines and the irregular sounds they make and lack of remedial action must contribute to the hazards. I wouldnt be keen to consume the corn from that field with the contaminants from the blade spreading everywhere. Will the farmer be compensated?
Worksafe surely cannot condone the risks turbines cause to safe farming practice and local inhabitants. Helmet wearing signs are posted on the locked gates to wind farms. Great protective measures huh? Blindcebo theory…those turning a blind eye think they can still see.

The day one of these ‘liberations’, fires or other catastrophe occurs and kills someone is the day people will start to accept they are dangerous and should not be placed anywhere near inhabited areas, they should be located in designated factory enclosures and not in open fields, parks, close to schools etc.
There are no safeguards to prevent harm to any living thing yet you have to jump through hoops to ensure safeguards and procedures are in place before you are able to operate other types of machinery.
Why are these exempt from such regulations?????

There are no safeguards (other than basic design and build quality) for the many thousands of people that sit next to jet engines every day either. When those blades get “liberated” its game over for anything in the way. Its not that unusual.

Wouldnt be surprised if the find the blade was shot out, given the failure at the base and road proximity.

Thanks for the reminder STT.
I think it will take a disaster of some proportions to wake people up, such as children being slashed and diced in a school playground, or a farmer and their family murdered from flying debris after an explosion while sitting in their home or garden, or a bus/coach full of people being crushed as a tower falls on them as it passes on a public road.
Unfortunately when it is one worker or other killed it makes little news other than localised, therefore a major disaster that will create interest by the worlds media could be the only way to wake the masses from their peaceful slumbers.
Obviously none of us want this to happen but it is a possibility with these things erected so close to human activity.

People in rural Ontario, who are being plagued with the noise, the low frequency noise modulations and infrasound radiation, celebrate whenever a turbine demolishes itself…as long as no one gets hurt and no fire destroys more than the turbine itself.
At this point, self destruction seems the fastest way to resolve the issue of harm.
Would you believe that the MOECC in Ontario still has not taken action to protect the residents whose stories were featured on a Global News series? No one seems to know what’s happening since the ‘circus’ at Queen’s Park where the sheer neglect was exposed. The turbines are still running!